When the Sun Goes Down
by AnotherPerson5
Summary: Max/Jude, side Prudence/Lucy. M for drug use/language
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: M for drug content, language and two dudes in love, but seriously be forewarned.**

The needle was on the table. Max couldn't take his eyes off it.

"What's one hit brother?" Donny laughed, rolling up his sleeve

"That's the rub 'brother'-it's never just one."

"Afraid your boyfriend is gonna walk in?" He unearthed a leather pouch and unzipped it, laying the materials flat on the table next to Max's prepped dose; another needle, a small ball of foil and an Army issued lighter to top it off.

"He's not my boyfriend, and even if he was him and Luce are off 'rediscovering their love'."

Donny shook his head, "They don't know what it's like for us, Max, never can never will."

"Maybe you're right." He straightened up on the couch, tossed the bills onto the table, "Close the door."

When Sadie's tour made its way full circle Jojo called the apartment to make sure they'd have a place to crash and the gang came stumbling in soon after. Sadie had some place else to be but the others barged in as if they'd only been gone a few days rather than a few months; laughing, talking over one another and complaining about empty stomachs.

"Shit," Max groaned, shoving Donny's feet off the table and trying to usher the slumped over man into one of the rooms.

"My man!" Jojo crowed when he spotted Max and the others reversed their positions as well, speaking all at once about the shows, the people and the overall experience.

"Oh you would have loved it," Lucy beamed up at him, arms securely around his middle, "why didn't you come again?"

"I'm sure he had his reasons."

"Jude." It's the first time Max had spoken the name since they said goodbye

"You've lost weight," Jude noted, looking him over, "How are you?"

"Max," Prudence voice comes from the kitchen, her tone making his hands shake, "Whose been shooting up?"

As quickly as the noise filled the flat, the quicker it dimmed. Shouts dulled to murmurs and the sound of footsteps shuffled towards empty rooms or the front door. Max swallowed hard, trying to put on a smile while jogging into the kitchen, swiping the bent spoons and pouches into a canvas bag at the foot of the table.

"It's these guys I'm living with."

"Junkies." Jude said quietly

"They're from my squad, they didn't have anywhere else to go and I needed the money." he shrugged, "I mean all you guys took off which is fine and dandy but somebody had to hold down the fort." Jojo had disappeared and Lucy and Prudence were looking away Jude the only one meeting his gaze stonily, "They've had a rough time, we've all had a rough time since we've been back. You saying you've never scorched one-"

"There's a difference."

"A drug's a drug. They gave us tons of it when we were in the infirmary."

"Yeah well you aren't in the infirmary anymore now, are you?"

He rolled his eyes, "Look I'm sorry I can't stay and chat, but I've made prior arrangements."

"Have fun." Jude deadpanned, not moving until the door slammed shut.

Prudence hopped onto the kitchen counter, "How's that for a welcome home."

He was on the nod, chin curled into his chest which felt heavy even though his fingertips were weightless. They twitched at his side and he had to struggle to remember what Jude looked like. His eyes, his nose, the breathless silence of his laughter. It was interesting, feeling himself forget the little things; like whether he'd cried that first time he'd plunged his blade into a VC soldier or if it was just the water as troops fell from the sky, raining black and green and red.

"Good better best the best of the breed." someone muttered beside him nonsensically, "We're the dying best deader than the rest."

"I guess." Max said and laugh-slash-choked on the words.

"The old Lucy would hate you right now."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah."

"What about the new Lucy?"

"She just wants you to be happy."

Jude nodded, rubbing his thumbs into the arch of the foot resting in his lap. She didn't move it, managing to keep a straight face until the tips of his fingers danced over the spot, tracing upwards until she broke and started laughing. He wrestled her free flying foot to no avail, tumbling off the bed when it landed square in his chest.

"Oh my god!" she peeked over the edge, "Are you okay?"

He pulled her down, getting an elbow in the stomach for his trouble when she rolled off of him, both of them struggling to stop laughing so they could breathe. When they regained their composure she turned her head to look at him

"I'd like to say I knew but I didn't."

He took her hand in his, "That goes double for me. If I'd known any sooner," he shrugged, "well life doesn't always work out like you plan it."

"Give me a few days." she whispered, "I need to not see you for a while for this to be okay."

He kissed her hand, "I'll always love you, so don't let 'a while' turn into forever."

After a bit of publicity in the city Sadie broke the news that the band had been picked up by an overseas label with an airtight contract and shows that made their US tour look like a bar gig. Prudence was holding down a job at a café and Lucy was accepted into NYU, but the others having no ties were following her. Jude offered to buy the band a round of celebratory drinks and everyone insisted on making a night of it. Sadie hopped on stage to perform for old times sake while Jojo sat it out to convince Jude to come along.

"Aint nothing going on here for you, man, why don't you tag along? We could always use a roadie," he nudges him, "someone good with the ladies."

"You know the accent only works in America,"

"But you're the man with the magic hands."

"The world's full of artists." he waved the bartender over, "You don't need me."

They drank in a silence that was only broken by blushing fans who wanted the lead guitarists autograph and the raucous applause when Sadie finished her set. Jojo had a drink ready for her when she sauntered over, dismissing the groupies and taking a seat on his lap.

"What's up Jude? Am I gonna be seeing you tomorrow on that big bird in the sky?"

"As a matter of fact no as I was just telling your fiancé."

"Well shit, boy, nothing to stick around for now that Lucy's left you, no offense."

"None taken." he chuckled, turning his glass around and around on the bar, "Actually, I'm staying for Max."

In unison the couple made a face, evening it out a second too late. He was glad when the owner of the bar got the crowd worked up for an encore by the entire band and he's left by himself. He knew the reason for that flash of skepticism. No one had laid eyes on the ex vet since he'd left the apartment that day. The cronies he left behind had claimed to know nothing, but one by one disappeared soon after. Jude knew there was a place where they hung out, one of them had left behind their medical card. The hospitals were still giving out hits of morphine to the ones still banged up and accepting 'donations' to squirrel a bit of junk away for the ones who weren't. It was just a matter of cornering one of them and finding out where.

"So this goddamn hippie was hassling me today right."

"Again?"

"Fuckers."

"You get him? Did you get him Donny?"

"Right in the eyes." he mimed throwing a fist. Someone tossed him a pillow and he snatched it from the air, slamming his arm into it, "Know what he called me? Know what he called me?"

"Who cares." Max muttered

Someone swatted him, "What'd he say?"

"Murdering puppet of a genocidal government and rapist of human decency."

"You get him good?"

"Cops showed up." he dropped the pillow, "Maxwell coffeehouse?"

"Quit calling me that."

"We get paid today Coffeehouse."

Max turned his face into the couch, "I don't want to go."

A fist collided with his leg, "Get up."

He did. Eventually. Pulled on a clean shirt and headed with Donny to load up trucks with boxes, bags and whatever the company told him to. The others were getting a government check for their service, permanently disabled one way or the other. Donny liked to bring up the fact that him and Max could get called back at any time, sent back into the heart of darkness for another joy ride as if the first time wasn't enough.

Because of it everyone thinks he should be more hooked than he is. A bleak future in a world where the people they fought for called them murderers and the ones who they fought with saw nothing wrong with sending them back to fight again.

After work they go to what his roomies playfully called the Junkyard, forking over their checks for white paper bags which they shoved into their coat pockets, walking home without saying a word to one another.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy leaned against the counter, peering into the pot on the stove with a phone nestled between ear and shoulder,

"Prudence, I think it's done!" she called just as the ringing stopped, "Hello?

"…"

"I need to talk to Max, it's an emergency."

"It's her again," then the murmur of someone's incoherent reply, "He's at work."

Lucy exhaled, nodded briefly at Prudence who pushed her aside with a wooden spoon, "He's always at work. Have you told him I've been calling?"

"Sure have."

"Tell him again."

They hung up.

She tossed the phone onto the table viciously, glaring at it as if it did so of its own accord. Prudence took down a bowl, spooned some chili into it, "Dinner is served."

"He's there I know it. They're turning him into some sort of-of drug fiend and I can't do anything. It's like the draft all over again."

"You have other options."

"I'm not calling Jude." she took the bowl still glaring at the phone, "I'm not."

It took all of twenty minutes to match the address to the phone number Prudence gave him. An aging complex on a side of town they couldn't have paid Jude to live in, worse than any place he'd seen in Liverpool. A man was passed out on the stoop, no stench of liquor but no less out of it, giving only a grumble when Jude nudged him aside to break the lock and jog upstairs to the right floor.

Jude remembered that first night he and Max hung out together. Smoking in the dorm room, goofing off at the bar, flirting with anything that had long legs and a cute smile and making a run for it when they took it too far. Max had been a sight then, shaggy blond hair always in motion because he was always on the run from one thing or another. A trouble maker with a grin that didn't give you any choice but to like him.

"Well well. Looks like your prior arrangements ran a little long."

"Jesus."

"Unfortunately not. Why don't we step outside."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Lately you seem full of good ideas. We're all worried sick and here you are burnt out with a bunch of scags."

"You don't know what it's like for me, okay!" he rubbed the side of his forehead, a scar running down from there to his jaw line. Jude remained stationary at the door, hands shoved into his coat pockets, "It's not that I hate you for not going through what I went through, but I'll be damned if you get to lecture me about how I cope with it."

"You're not coping, you're taking the cowards way out slumming here. Not everyone who came back from the war started using, Eddie's working full time and your mate Nicholas just got his degree."

"I'm not Nicholas and I'm not having this conversation." He bent down, stuffing his torn short into his cargos and lifting up a knocked out body to retrieve his coat. A few wrinkled bills were on the couch, he snatched them and straightened up to his full height when he came to the door and Jude still wasn't moving.

"You're not going anywhere until we work through this."

"I'm done talking."

"You can't be done if you never started."

"Get out of the way Jude."

"No."

"Move before I move you."

He shrugged, "So be it."

Max pushed his shoulder. Then he pushed it again and again until Jude's hands were out of his pockets and he was holding Max back, tightening his fists in the other man's lapels and trying to walk him backwards. Max dug his heels into the carpet and set his jaw, the muscles in his arms flexing as he finally got the upper hand and shoved Jude onto his knees. Before he could step over him though a kick sent him into the side of the grandfather clock, the shoving match turning into a fight as palms were closed and fists thrown instead of frustrated pushes.

Jude could hold his own having had his share of brawls, but nothing could compare to the reflexes honed by expecting death each waking moment. Apart of Max knew whose arms were wrapped around him from behind, that the voice in his ear telling him to stop was Jude's and no one else's. But then the arm made to come around his neck and Max saw red, he saw red and black and heard the echo of a shrill cry from an enemy out for his blood and it was too much to resist.

When he snapped back into reality he was standing up and Jude was on his back, a stream of blood coming from his nose and an eye already swollen.

_I'm sorry, Jude, I'm sorry I-_ "I can't do this."

"-then he took off and I came here."

"Here's the swabs."

"Thanks." Lucy smiled at Prudence who went a little red then backed out of the room, saying something about nosy guests and extra blankets.

Technically speaking Jude wasn't supposed to be in the dorms as they weren't co-ed, but they'd snuck him in when he showed up on campus, bleeding and with news of Max. He was taken into the bathroom, seated on the toilet and made to stay still while Lucy sat on the sink and went to work on him with a first aid kit. He relayed everything to her, even the parts he didn't want to say like the track marks on Max's arm and the fact that him and some guy named Donny went halves on a car so there was a chance he could have skipped town.

"Any idea where he'd go?"

"There's a few places I suppose, but God! I've never seen him like this before. He didn't even smoke pot that much before he was drafted. It's like he's a different person."

"He's been through a lot of horrible things, doesn't mean he's changed completely."

"I kicked Pink Thunder out." Prudence said gently, rejoining them, "Cynthia's pissed."

Jude wasn't too bruised up to not raise an eyebrow, "Pink Thunder?"

"It's a women's liberation group."

"Sounds political."

Prudence rolled her eyes, "Relax, their idea of terrorism is forcing a girl to wear pink and a boy to wear blue."

Insisting that he wasn't fit to go looking for Max and in the meantime swearing to get in touch with anyone who would know where he went, Jude accepted their offer to stay the night. Prudence offered her room and when he asked where she'd sleep she blushed again and told him not to worry. He circled the small quarters, noting that it hardly seemed to be broken in, a few clothes in the closet and framed photos but little else.

"Wonder if she's cuter than the contortionist." Jude mused and fell backward onto the bed.

Max looked hard into the side mirror. It had been a while since he'd left New York, fought and bought his way into the group of bikers who were putting him up now. A few of them were from the city, had helped the police during the protests and didn't even consider that not long ago Max had been one of those people. Two days after he was drafted, walking through the crowded streets with Prudence on his shoulders and Jude and his sister at his side. What had he promised her?

_Nothing is going to happen to me._

Someone shouted into his ear, hopped onto the back of his bike and told him to gun it. The rest of the gang were straddling their motorcycles, a few of_ t_hem with bundles of cash which they put into their packs while their wheels kicked up dust. Max didn't ask, just started his engine and followed after.

Max wasn't a little kid. The officer kept saying it as if Jude and Lucy were kids themselves, explaining that they couldn't put out a missing person's report for someone who skipped town of their own accord. There were people out there who actually were missing, victims who needed more face time than a twenty-something year old who was picked up for vagrancy and palled around with bums who had an even worse track record before and after they were drafted.

"Nothing we can do." he drawled and showed them the door.

Lucy was a wreck. Her parents had called, claiming that Max had called them up for money and when they told him they'd only give it to him if he talked to a shrink the line had gone dead. All while they were talking he'd been muttering beneath his breath, obviously out of it and just before they'd been greeted with silence they thought they heard the sound of multiple engines. It wasn't much to go on seeing as how he could have been at any truck stop in the united states, but it was something.

"I still have my advance from the newspaper advertisements." Jude said and Lucy balked

"I've already lost Max now you want to leave?"

"I have a hunch where he might be headed, I've been working on the bug and it's fine for a cross country drive."

Prudence wrapped an arm around Lucy, "We'll come with you then."

"No. You've got a job and Luce your break isn't for another month."

"He's my brother."

"But he's my…" He trailed off, rubbed the back of his neck, "It doesn't matter. He'd want you to stay on track and I'll call at every motel I stop at to check in, yeah?"

They argued for a bit more but Lucy knew that it would come to this. Ever since she'd seen him lying in the hospital with black unseeing eyes she knew that she wasn't enough to rescue him. It was why the war had hit her so hard, knowing that there were things she couldn't bring him back from.

She watched Jude pack his sparse luggage into the van, arms crossed and eyes red.

"If you really love him you'll bring him back."

"I do," he buckled his seatbelt, "and I will."

"I was really looking forward to riding off into the sunset after our grand proclamations of love." Max drawled crossing his arms and leaning against the bumper

"Were you?" Jude scratched the top of his head, staring down at the smoking engine, "Maybe this is why there aren't any cars in fairytales."

"Come on prince charming let's find a magical mechanic," Jude let Max wrap an arm around his shoulders and tug him away from the defunct van.

"This isn't over ya know." Jude said, letting himself be lead along the side of the road

"That's what I was hoping."


End file.
